Car line drop off: Why does your kid need to be dropped off right in front of the door?

[Anonymous]

Could it be that back cars think they’re not in the zone and are waiting to move up? Our school has a weird drop off zone and some people were confused. I avoided it at all cost.

[Anonymous]

Our school has safety patrol who flag the cars into position and you have to pull up as far as possible - it’s like the cab line at the airport and it runs extremely well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I avoid drop off line because my kid can't unbuckle seatbelt by himself in carseat. We have purchased the gadget ro make it easier, and it does not work.We enroll kid at onsite before care even though it is not necessary.

How huge is your car that you can't reach back and unbuckle it?

This post is about HS, but I have a Subaru Outback and I am 5’8” and I can’t reach my kids. We got a buckle bee for our older kid when he was in K and taught that kid how to unbuckle his brother when the younger was in K. We practiced in the driveway like a NASCAR crew until we were ready for the kiss and ride. Until then, I parked a block away and walked them in.

[Anonymous]

If you are close enough that you don't get a bus, then your child should be walking or biking. Parents need to stop driving to car pickup!

Afternoon pickup is the worst. Cars will be idling there for 15-30 minutes. You should not be able to idle like that on school property. Kids get brought out one by one, which drives me insane. Why can't they be in a pen outside? Or after K, just let them walk out by themselves!

My dd is almost 8 and in 2nd grade and isn't allowed to come outside or walk home by herself. It takes an extra 10 min to get her called and allow her to come out the door in the afternoon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are close enough that you don't get a bus, then your child should be walking or biking. Parents need to stop driving to car pickup!

Afternoon pickup is the worst. Cars will be idling there for 15-30 minutes. You should not be able to idle like that on school property. Kids get brought out one by one, which drives me insane. Why can't they be in a pen outside? Or after K, just let them walk out by themselves!

My dd is almost 8 and in 2nd grade and isn't allowed to come outside or walk home by herself. It takes an extra 10 min to get her called and allow her to come out the door in the afternoon.

OP here
In theory I agree with you. But like a lot of districts, we have a bus driver shortage. Buses are having to cram kids (remember, these are high school kids!) 3 to a seat and/or make a second run because there isn't enough room for everyone. Almost every day on our parent facebook group, there is someone upset because the bus didn't come until after school started, or even come at all! A lot of the parents dropping their kid off just want to make sure their kid gets to school on time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school has safety patrol who flag the cars into position and you have to pull up as far as possible - it’s like the cab line at the airport and it runs extremely well.

#jealous. Our drop-off line is a hot mess like many of the others have stated. If your child (of any age!) cannot get out of the car without your getting out, walking around the car, and opening the door for them, you should not be in the drop-off line. This year many, many drivers zoom past the drop-off line and then park right in front of it so the line cannot advance. I wish the school staff standing there would/could do something.

[Anonymous]

This doesn't happen at DC's high school. They can drop off anywhere in the whole lot.

I've only seen this in elementary where each child was supervised getting out of the car by a staff member. They had 5-6 of them in the drop of line and they would make sure they didn't trip, opened and closed the door properly, and were not in danger of getting hit by other cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The worst is the parents who get out of the car with their children and to get backpacks out of the trunk. These people suck!!!!

I mean…if their car is too small to have stuff in the back seat, what else are they supposed to do? I’ve noticed people doing this at our school, and the parents who get out and help are moving along a lot faster than the cars where the kids get the backpacks out of the trunk themselves.

NP. We have a full carpool and sometimes the kids have instruments or sports equipment that has to go in the trunk. In MS my child was not tall enough to reach the top of the trunk to close it so I had to get out. In HS they get it themselves but there are really small kids that might have that problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This doesn't happen at DC's high school. They can drop off anywhere in the whole lot.

I've only seen this in elementary where each child was supervised getting out of the car by a staff member. They had 5-6 of them in the drop of line and they would make sure they didn't trip, opened and closed the door properly, and were not in danger of getting hit by other cars.

Same at our school. If traffic in the parking lot is bad kids can hop out anywhere. We usually do this if the line is not moving. We wait until we're stopped and DH hops out mid line.

It's a K-8 school that shares a parking lot with a HS.

[Anonymous]

We've always dropped off a half a block away. Kids walk, and are listed as walkers and we're in and out with no time waiting in line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've always dropped off a half a block away. Kids walk, and are listed as walkers and we're in and out with no time waiting in line.

OP here
The car line to the school goes on for more than a block. It's really insane. The closest place I could reasonably drop him off like that is in a residential neighborhood across a (busy) street--about a 10 minute walk. Which is fine--I see the kids that live in that neighborhood walking to the school. But people drive like jerks in the area and I've seen many near misses of car vs. high school pedestrian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The worst is the parents who get out of the car with their children and to get backpacks out of the trunk. These people suck!!!!

I mean…if their car is too small to have stuff in the back seat, what else are they supposed to do? I’ve noticed people doing this at our school, and the parents who get out and help are moving along a lot faster than the cars where the kids get the backpacks out of the trunk themselves.

WTF are you talking about. If a child can fit in the back seat, then their bag can fit back there as well. If you need to get stuff out of the trunk, then you should park and walk your kid up to the door.

The people I see are in compact cars and their kids have huge backpacks and those huge binders. I can see where that wouldn’t all fit in the backseat.

Those are the people who took the school supply list literally and bought 3" binders when 1" binders would have done, haha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've always dropped off a half a block away. Kids walk, and are listed as walkers and we're in and out with no time waiting in line.

OP here
The car line to the school goes on for more than a block. It's really insane. The closest place I could reasonably drop him off like that is in a residential neighborhood across a (busy) street--about a 10 minute walk. Which is fine--I see the kids that live in that neighborhood walking to the school. But people drive like jerks in the area and I've seen many near misses of car vs. high school pedestrian.

Seriously OP? Your kid is in HIGH SCHOOL and can't cross a busy street?

[Anonymous]

Unless your kid is disabled in some way or carrying something extraordinarily heavy, I don't want to hear about problems in a high school car line. Drop your kid off a few blocks away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've always dropped off a half a block away. Kids walk, and are listed as walkers and we're in and out with no time waiting in line.

OP here
The car line to the school goes on for more than a block. It's really insane. The closest place I could reasonably drop him off like that is in a residential neighborhood across a (busy) street--about a 10 minute walk. Which is fine--I see the kids that live in that neighborhood walking to the school. But people drive like jerks in the area and I've seen many near misses of car vs. high school pedestrian.

Seriously OP? Your kid is in HIGH SCHOOL and can't cross a busy street?

Of course he can. The people driving in the area can't drive.